10/4/2010

This week was Nuts!

I´ve never had so many spiritual experiences in my life! The Lord helped us find many of his elects this week. So lets save the best for last. I'm going to tell about this girl named Fabiana that we found. So Saturday night in between the conference sessions we went to contact an address that we had. When we got there is was an apartment and each apartment has an interphone that you have to press the number of the apartment and it will call them. So the person we were looking for wasn't home and my companion Elder Viana said "Well, we´re here for a reason, there must be an elect here" Then he pressed a random number, number 13. And a lady answered and was like wait right there I'm coming down. And she came down to greet us, we couldn't go up and teacher her because she was home alone so we just taught her in front of her building. We taught the Restoration and she accepted a Baptism date! It was so sweet that my companion was guided to know exactly which number to press to find the Elect!

So now, on to the coolest thing ever! So we took a member with us to teach one of our investigators, but when we got there we clapped and clapped our hands but no one answered. We thought it was really strange because the window was open and the light was on. There had to be someone there, but no one was answering. (we later found out that she had fallen asleep, We can really see how God does everything perfectly) So we were about to leave and the neighbor got home and the member that was with us was like "OMG that's like the cutest cat ever'', and then they started talking about cats for like 10 minutes, then the topic moved to how they are both descendants of Arabic's, so they formed like an instant bond, and the lady invited us to enter the house. (I have always hated cats, but at least they're good for something! haha) So we sat down and started talking to her. She told us that she has been really depressed lately and the night before she had been up all night crying and praying for God to help here. And she had a dream. She said that in her dream she saw a man and a bunch of stacks of bibles and he was putting the bibles into a paper shredder and then she saw a huge book next to the bibles and she thought to herself in the dream "He is never going to be able to destroy that book" And in that moment we realized that she had seen the book of Mormon and so I got one out, and showed it to her and we said we wanted to give one to her as a present! So got soooo happy and almost started crying. Then we explained about the Book of Mormon and we told her if she reads and prays she will be able to receive and answer to know that the book is true. So she grabbed the book in her hands and said "Ok lets see what my answer is right now" And she closed her eyes and whispered a little prayer. Now at this point a was franticly praying that she would open to a scripture that would be an answer for her. And where did she open up to... The Index! I was like Dang it! Why did she have to open there, so is going to read something that doesn't have anything to do with anything! But she started reading about the word cross. And it had a quote there from when Jesus said take up your cross and follow me. Apparently that was exactly what she needed to hear in that moment, and she started crying and said I know, I know this book is true! Her name is Camila, she is 37 and lives alone. She is super super smart and way funny. She is an English teacher, and speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Turkish, and a little French and Latin! anyways she is soooo Elect... When we went back there 2 days ago we about the restoration and when we told the fist vision and when we finished she was like oh wow! I just got goose bumps everywhere! haha then we talk about the word of wisdom because she smokes and drinks coffee, and she was like "you wont believe this, but a couple days ago I felt like I needed to stop drinking coffee and smoking. She had already set a goal that on the 10th of October she will stop. So has been so incredibly prepared! When the Lord said that there are people that are lost from the truth because they know not where to find it, I know exactly what he means, there are so many people out there that are ready. The only problem is that we don't know who they are until we talk to them about the gospel. For this reason I want to Invite all that are reading this to help in this great cause of spreading the gospel. Just open your mouths, invite people to go to church, to receive the missionaries. All of the people in the world, all the people that aren't members that we pass every day are all children of God. They accepted the same plan that we did. They are just lost and don't even know it. It is our responsibility to share the gospel. I love this work! I know that This is the true church here on the earth!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder J.D. Schoen